this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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  • US Adm. John Aquilino said China's military is building up at a rate not seen since World War II.
  • That puts it on the path to meeting its goal of being ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, he said.
  • Aquilino, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, urged Washington to accelerate military development.

China's rapid military build-up is more expansive than anything seen since World War II, which means it's on track with its 2027 goal to be ready for a Taiwan invasion, said US Navy Adm. John Aquilino.

"All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping's directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027," Aquilino wrote in a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee.

"Furthermore, the PLA's actions indicate their ability to meet Xi's preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed," added the admiral, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, urged Washington to accelerate military development.

Better yet. Instead of spending a trillion dollars to gear up to join WW3, how about spend that money to develope domestic manufacturing so we can completely embargo all imports from China. Stay out of conflicts between other nations.

Hit them in the economy and it will hurt them far more than hitting them with bombs, plus the bonus effect of not wasting thousands if not millions of human lives.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That is the thing. We funded the Chinese build up. Stupid to fund a hostile nation.

We shouldn't do business with China, period. Not only would our economy grow like crazy, but China would decline and become less of a threat to the world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ironically could have learnt something from China. Just said fuck you we got everything we need on this side and close the border.

[–] vaultdweller013 2 points 8 months ago

Except food, China is a net importer of food. I wonder what would happen if it stopped, would the CCP fall or would they all just starve until the population stabilized.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

stay out of conflicts between other nations

Exactly. There's no way Hitler's will try to take Poland. Even if he does, it's not like the Nazis or Japanese would attack the US.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Um the thousands of human lives part? That's why we shouldn't do both?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Paradoxically, a large standing army will mean less likelihood of conflict. Deterrence works.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Why did you lowball it at thousands? That war would give COVID a run for its money

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Would you rather the Chinese be allowed to have their way with the entirety of the Asia-Pacific region? Based on what we've seen in Hong Kong I don't think that's a good idea.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

China would be irrelevant without its purely manpower based economy.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

The idea behind a massive build out of weapons is so nobody even dares to point a barrel in your direction.

The downside is that everybody else will try to find a way to make those weapons irrelevant, like swarms of $1.000 drones bypassing million dollars air defenses.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Because that does not feed the military industrial complex.

Tooling up is cheaper for employers in $CONGRESSIONAL_DISTRICT.

Building up domestic manufacturing takes years of capital investment with no quarterly KPI RoI.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 8 months ago

Americans tend to support using public funds on things that don't benefit them.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

I think Taiwan doing so well in the semiconductor space is a huge win for the region. I fear China attacking would put East Asians in a tough spot; especially if the foundries get destroyed.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So does the Chinese think it will be a quick war? Recent history has shown that this kind of years never end. The Taiwanese have been preparing for this for years.

Russians thought taking Ukraine would last a few weeks and that war has been ongoing for couple of years. The Saudis are sucked into Yemen for several years. The US got into 2 forever wars at the same time.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Taiwan is a 13,976 sq mile Island. Yemen is a 214,287 sq mile desert. Ukraine is 233,062 sq miles. It's not a fair comparison. China could take Taiwan very quickly because it's a tiny little island. They're more likely to simply embargo the island though and turn it into the next Cuba.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

China could take Taiwan very quickly because it’s a tiny little island.

I assume you have little military knowledge. Personally I don't make claims like this at all because I know the limits of my own knowledge. If China were to attempt to take Taiwan it would be devastating for both countries. War is absolute shit, many civilians would die, and what would China really gain? They'd gain being on America's shitlist which historically is terrible. Be careful with statements like these, they're the same ones I read right before Russia invaded Ukraine.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I literally just responded to another comment saying that I don't believe China would ever invade Taiwan and it's just US propaganda intended on selling weapons through fear mongering.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It is tiny, but far more parity in terms of arms and the whole being an island thing makes it exponentially harder to invade than say, a country you share a a land border with including roads leading you to where you want to go.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

No it isn't. They could carpet bomb the whole island in a week. They don't even need to step foot on Taiwan to conquer it. Their Navy and Air Force is more than enough. But they'd be more likely to just blockade the country and starve everyone.

That being said, I don't actually believe China will invade Taiwan. There's no real incentive. I don't doubt that they're expanding their military, but I believe it's entirely US propaganda intended on selling weapons through fear mongering.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Link to show invading is not trivial https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/why-a-taiwan-invasion-would-look-nothing-like-d-day/

Enforcing a blockade around an island full of long range anti ship and air defences, aided by the US military, is extremely hard. Also and more importantly it's a very long dragged out war that gives Taiwan time to build allies, and the west to organise, which will make it harder and harder to enforce.

Finally you're replying to someone saying the war will take a long time, which you initially disagree with then go on to talk about an embargo which more than agrees with it. It's going to take ages to resolve if they attack and it'll almost certainly include Russia distracting NATO in Europe. I dearly hope china sees sense and gets rid of xi before his desperation for personal achievements in his lifetime causes the nation and world a lot of pointless suffering

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

I think you're misunderstanding. If China were to invade, it would be over quickly. I'm not saying that China wouldn't have losses in the process, I'm just saying it wouldn't take long due to the fact that the island is roughly the size of Maryland. To add to that, I doubt the US would actually get involved and would instead just try to sell weapons to Taiwan, just like Ukraine.

That being said, invasion aside, like as a completely separate course of action, I believe they'd be more likely to take the long term path of embargo. They wouldn't be bombarding the island, just preventing supplies from coming in or out. They can do this outside of the range of Taiwan's defenses and Taiwan is incapable of sustaining itself for very long. The war would likely end within a year, the US would probably make a lot of threats, but ultimately wouldn't sacrifice the US economy for a war with China.

Now, this is really the most important part. It is well within China's best interest to not invade Taiwan. They have a symbiotic relationship and the whole situation is just posturing between the US and China and has nothing to do with Taiwan at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well if nobody in the West is prepared to admit that Taiwan isn't a bit of China, what are they going to do about it? Probably nothing at this point. It's far enough away that it's not really a territorial threat to us, unlike Ukraine.

The real question should be, what are we doing about all that Taiwanese manufacturing we rely on? Because if the answer isn't "move it all back to Western countries where it can fuel Western economies no matter the cost" then you're making a hell of a gamble on China staying friendly with us in the future.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Time to play psyop or tankie!

The answer is Seventh Fleet goes brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I just hodl

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The current Chinese state did not exist before WW2, so I think that comparison is a bit odd

[–] remus989 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I believe they're comparing the scale seen before WW2 in general, not China itself.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


"All indications point to the PLA meeting President Xi Jinping's directive to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027," Aquilino wrote in a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee.

"Furthermore, the PLA's actions indicate their ability to meet Xi's preferred timeline to unify Taiwan with mainland China by force if directed," added the admiral, the outgoing head of the US Indo-Pacific Command.

He and Assistant Defense Secretary for the Indo-Pacific Command Ely Ratner both said the threat of direct conflict between the US and China is "neither immediate nor inevitable," but that the Pentagon must move fast to reduce the risk of war.

This year, the Indo-Pacific Command flagged in a priority wish list that it hoped for $11 billion more than the funds allocated by the White House, with $430 million requested for the Guam missile defense system, per documents obtained by Politico Pro.

Meanwhile, US leaders have been concerned with Xi's mandate to make China's military a "world-class" force by 2027, as the White House fears that Beijing seeks to supplant the US as the dominant power in the Indo-Pacific and eventually the rest of the globe.

The purge and reports of graft materially affecting China's arsenal triggered questions internationally about the true strength of the People's Liberation Army, and if Xi's military goals have been delayed.


The original article contains 646 words, the summary contains 221 words. Saved 66%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Can't they make haste please? I wanna see live action fallout irl /s

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oooh Western money is gonna be pissed.